Should you be worried about your kids' exposure to plastic?

By Kimberly Gillan| 4 months ago

How to cut down your child's chemical contact

After a leading body of US paediatricians warned that exposure to plastic could be dangerous to kids health, many parents have been left wondering what they need to be doing to cut down their kids' chemical contact.

As handy as plastic packaging and containers might be, the American Academy of Pediatrics, which represents 67,000 US paediatricians, say there has not been enough research into a lot of plastic food packaging and containers to confirm their safety.

Many food additives and packaging chemicals were being used prior to government legislation being introduced in the US and the concern now is that chemicals used in things like preservatives, plastic packaging and the plastic lining of tin cans may act as "endocrine disruptors" and interfere with the body's hormones, which could affect everything from thyroid function to metabolism to future fertility.

"The potential for endocrine system disruption is of great concern, especially in early life, when developmental programming of organ systems is susceptible to permanent and lifelong disruption," they write.

The group is calling for research into better alternatives and tougher government regulation, but in the meantime suggest parents try to limit their kids' exposure to canned foods, avoid putting plastics in the microwave or dishwasher and avoid processed foods as much as possible.

"We're only really just starting to understand some of the interactions that these chemicals can have," Dr Mark Green, University of Melbourne Senior Lecturer in Reproductive Biology, tells Coach.

"Some affect the immune system, inappropriately turning up or down the body's response to pathogens; some work through the sex hormones; others affect the thyroid; and some of them adapt our fat cells to alter the body’s response to insulin and glucose concentrations, which can lead to obesity and diabetes and heart disease."

The paediatricians are particularly concerned about nitrites and nitrates that are often used as preservatives in meat products; bisphenols, used in the plastic lining of tin cans; phthalates and perfluoroalkyl chemicals used in plastic packaging and the anti-static agent perchlorates.

Dr Green says there is no need for parents to feel overwhelmed – it's more a case of being aware of the fact that chemicals can be absorbed via the food we eat or the plastics we touch, so eating fresh produce that's been well rinsed is usually the safest bet.

"If you're heating up food or drink for your child in the microwave, then I would take it out of the plastic packaging and put it in a china or glass bowl or cup," he says.

"It's particularly the soft plastics, such as those used in takeaway containers, that leech out dioxins."

Dr Green suggests using tin water bottles for small children and glass ones for older kids.

"If you need to have a plastic bottle, then go for a really hard plastic, not a squeezy one," he suggests.

"We would recommend parents put nutrition at the forefront and make sure they're getting in some fruit and vegetables, whether it's fresh, frozen or canned," she tells Coach.

"If you can choose fresh, that's great and is definitely best, but frozen and canned, from a nutritional perspective is almost equal in terms of nutrients."

Dr Green agrees that the most important health message for parents is for kids to get quality nutrition, but says that if you are in a position to be able to batch cook some healthy meals to keep in the freezer, it's probably a better option than relying on pre-packaged foods.

"For time poor parents, I think it's just minimising [plastic exposure] where we can," he says.

"If you get the opportunity once or twice a week to make a batch of food that you can freeze yourself, that's probably a healthier alternative."

That's why Dr Green says governments need to act to help take pressure off parents who are time-poor and doing their best to give their children a healthy diet.

"We are potentially better to lobby the manufacturers and producers to change what's lining our tin cans and our bottles so we can use them and feel much more confident," he says.

"It's a cumulative affect we're seeing – unfortunately in our childrens' lifetime, they are going to be exposed to 10 times more than we [their parents] are ever going to be exposed to.

"You can imagine that in another 20 years, if we don't have legislation and take a good stance now, then we could be inundated with many, many chemicals, at which point it could be too late for a large number of people in terms of some diseases and disorders."